May 2025 Allocutio

Regular Meetings of the Praesidium – By Fr Dominic Nguyen

                

We have probably sat through meetings in the workplace or social groups that were dry and did not seem to achieve anything. Some of these experiences may have even led us to reconsider whether such activities were worthwhile at all.

Yet the Legion of Mary Handbook tells us that the regular weekly meetings of the praesidium are not only useful, but essential. It stresses, ‘The meeting is to the work as the root is to the flower’. How can this be? Shouldn’t the active work be more important than the meeting?

Such a statement would make sense if we consider what is actually involved in a Legion of Mary meeting. It is no coincidence that each meeting is framed around prayer. It begins with the

invocation of the Holy Spirit, asking that the Father send us His Holy Spirit, and meditates on the life of His Son through the gaze of Mary in the Rosary. Then midway through the meeting, the Catena Legionis is recited to echo Mary’s thankful hymn of praise to God. Finally, the

 meeting concludes with prayer again, this time asking the Lord to enliven each of us to fulfil our mission for His glory.

Praying together has the advantage of promoting communion between the members of the

Legion of Mary and ensures the presence of Jesus as the point of unity to direct the

discussions. For Jesus promised His disciples, “where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” (Mt 18:20)

Additionally, each meeting provides a platform for the different works of each member to be presented in the context of a prayerful offering to God. Not only is one accountable for the works that one does, but that each legionary could rejoice and be encouraged in hearing about the works that God has done through others.

We can see then that each meeting is more than just an ordinary gathering. It is a prayer that enables the work of each legionary to be rooted in God. Only then will the flower truly blossom.